A hackathon is typically an in-person physical event but recently, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for social distancing, many hackathons started to move online. While many of those events aim to crowdsource the generation of solutions to problems around COVID-19 [1]}, [2]}, there are several other online hackathonsmlh.io/seasons/2021/events focused on a wide array of topics. Online or remote hackathons are not a new phenomenon and have been popular since the beginning of the 2010s in databases such as Devpost devpost.com, where hackathon organizers can advertise their events and attract participants. However, hackathon participants commonly prefer face-to-face interactions that are typical for co-location [3]}, instead of remote collaboration. The radical co-location of participants and the face-to-face interactions are key characteristics that help participants quickly advance technical work in hackathons [4]}. They help to create a highly focused and interruption-free space that allows participants to concentrate on one thing at a time and increase their productivity [5]}. Under the perspective of hackathon-focused literature, these events are often seen as competitive or collaborative styles [6]}, [5]}, [8]}, although both approaches can coexist in the same event. In the 90's hackathons started as events of a mostly collaborative nature [6]}. They developed a competitive facet and depending on how the hackathon is organized, teams may vary in their collaboration style which can be competitive – the typical hackathon style focusing on collaborative work only within the group – or cooperative, where there is mutual help and participants receive support from the other teams’ members [5]}, [8]}. Fostering a competitive or collaborative ambience is a design choice made by organizers [12]}. The traditional competitive hackathon format is common when there are incentives such as awards and prizes being offered. A cooperative event can be achieved when social elements are introduced – e.g., stimulating participants to pitch project ideas or to wander around the premises and discuss with other teams – thus helping participants from different teams to collaborate and network [13]}.
